Ukraine is Ready to Start EU Membership Talks

While the West hesitates whether to promise Kyiv NATO membership after the war, Ukraine sees EU integration as a priority. Thus, the Ukrainian government has approved roadmaps for the Fundamentals cluster. 

On May 16, 2025, the Ukrainian government, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved four separate roadmaps dedicated to the key policies of the first negotiation cluster — Fundamentals.

These include the rule of law, public administration reform, the functioning of democratic institutions, and the protection of national minorities' rights. These documents are not just a formal response to the European Commission's expectations, but the result of in-depth internal work by the government, ministries, think tanks, and European experts.

The EU accession negotiations are structured around thematic clusters, which group together related policy chapters from the “acquis communautaire” — the body of EU law and standards. There are six clusters in total, covering areas such as the internal market, competitiveness and inclusive growth, the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, resources and agriculture, external relations, and the fundamentals — which include rule of law, democratic institutions, public administration reform, and economic criteria. Progress in each cluster determines the pace and depth of negotiations, making them a key framework for assessing a candidate country’s readiness for membership.

The cluster-based methodology was formally introduced in 2020 as part of the revised enlargement methodology proposed by the European Commission. It was designed to make the accession process more predictable, credible, and dynamic. The new approach responds to criticisms that previous enlargement processes were overly fragmented and slow. By grouping negotiation chapters thematically into clusters, the EU aimed to streamline negotiations, ensure stronger political steer, and facilitate early access to key reforms that reflect EU core values.

This methodology builds on earlier experiences with candidate countries in the Western Balkans, particularly Serbia and Montenegro, where it was piloted before being endorsed as the standard framework. It also reflects lessons learned from the 2004 and 2007 enlargement waves, where a more technical and chapter-by-chapter approach often delayed substantive reforms. For Ukraine, adopting this methodology means aligning with a process that emphasizes early rule of law reforms and democratic resilience as the foundation for progress in all other policy areas.

Structure and content of the roadmap on the rule of law

According to the document, the priority in this area is to complete the institutional restart of judicial governance bodies, in particular the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and the High Council of Justice. It provides for the updating of procedures for the selection of judges and bringing them into line with the principles of transparency, impartiality, and professional integrity. By mid-2025, competitions should be completed and the personnel of the HQCJ and the HCJ should be formed.

The document also provides for the continued implementation of e-justice, including connecting all courts to the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunications System (UJITS), creating separate modules for automated case distribution and monitoring of court workload. In 2025, public testing of the electronic system for appointing judges should be ensured.

In the section devoted to the fight against corruption, special attention is paid to the institutional independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the National Agency for Corruption Prevention, and the High Anti-Corruption Court. The roadmap sets out tasks to strengthen the procedural autonomy of these bodies, in particular by ensuring stable and secure funding, as well as developing methods for assessing the effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions in accordance with GRECO and OECD international standards.

The document also provides for the reform of the prosecutor's office, including updating the policy for selecting senior staff, increasing the transparency of attestation procedures, and improving internal control mechanisms. The police reform section outlines steps to bring the activities of pre-trial investigation bodies, in particular the State Bureau of Investigation and the National Police, into line with EU standards in terms of accountability, procedural powers, and human rights protection.

Roadmap for public administration reform

The main goal of this plan is to implement a comprehensive approach to modernizing Ukraine's public administration system in accordance with SIGMA principles and European administration standards. The key tasks are: improving the institutional distribution of powers between state authorities; bringing civil service personnel policy in line with meritocracy standards; and developing e-government.

The document provides for improving the quality of policy planning by introducing a cycle of public policy formation, impact assessment, and policy analysis based on results. By the end of 2025, the methodology for preparing government decisions should be updated, and a system for monitoring the implementation of public policy at the level of central executive bodies should be introduced.

A separate section is devoted to the digitization of management processes. The action plan includes the development of interoperability of state registries, integration into the EU Digital Services Interoperability Platform, and the modernization of the IT architecture of the public sector. Further development of digital infrastructure in the regions and improvement of the digital competencies of civil servants are also planned.

Functioning of democratic institutions: details of changes

The document outlines a list of measures aimed at strengthening representative democracy, media independence, and the institutional environment for civil society organizations.

Priorities include adapting electoral legislation in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, including standardising the activities of the Central Election Commission, improving vote counting procedures, ensuring the participation of internally displaced persons in voting, and regulating the transparency of political party financing. Amendments to the Electoral Code are to be adopted by December 2025.

Another area of focus is ensuring freedom of speech and the development of independent media. There are plans to create a strategy to promote the development of regional media, in particular through transparent funding mechanisms based on competitions. The document also provides for a review of the powers of the media regulator to prevent political pressure.

The roadmap also includes provisions on support for civil society organizations. It provides for the creation of a single online register of public organizations, simplification of tax reporting for non-profit organizations, and the formation of advisory bodies to central executive authorities.

Protection of the rights of national minorities: the most sensitive part

The last of the four documents sets out a framework for policies to protect the rights of people who are part of national minorities (communities), taking into account the Council of Europe Framework Convention and the Venice Commission's recommendations.

The document provides for the creation of a new body — the Commissioner for National Minorities— as well as the updating of the Law of Ukraine “On National Minorities (Communities)”, with an emphasis on ensuring the rights to self-expression, education, participation in public life, and access to the media.

In the field of education, a flexible approach to language policy is envisaged: preserving minority language education while ensuring proficiency in the state language. Separately, there is an intention to create conditions for the study of minority languages in preschool and extracurricular education institutions.

The document also contains provisions on the participation of minority representatives in policy development, public administration, and local self-government, and provides for the involvement of international experts to monitor the implementation of the provisions.

Ukraine is technically ready to open three clusters: European Commission sends a signal to the European Council 

After completing the screening phase, which lasted from autumn 2023 to spring 2025, the European Commission submitted reports on three clusters that determine Ukraine's starting positions in the negotiations. Along with the “fundamental” issues, the Commission assessed Ukraine's technical preparedness in the clusters “Internal Market” and “Competition and Green Transition.” This is the first time in the history of EU enlargement that a candidate country at war has demonstrated such strong technical readiness to begin negotiations on such complex issues.

According to information from internal EC documents circulating in the relevant directorates, the conclusions regarding Ukraine are “generally positive.” It is noted that in each of the three clusters, there has been progress not only in terms of regulations but also in terms of institutions. For example, in the area of the internal market, changes to competition legislation have been adopted, technical regulations have been harmonized, and the work of the State Food and Consumer Service has been updated. In the “green transition,” the National Energy Plan has been updated and a basis for emissions trading has been created. These are all necessary elements of the acquis communautaire.

The EC reports are the legal basis for the European Council to take a political decision to start negotiations. The technical signal has been given, so the process depends on the political will of the member states.

The political significance of opening negotiations

The decision to start negotiations with Ukraine goes beyond the technical process. It is, above all, a geopolitical gesture of trust. For a state that opposes the aggression of a nuclear neo-autocracy, the start of negotiations will mean recognition of its strategic role in the European security system.Ukraine has become not a consumer but a supplier of security for Europe — this trend must be legally enshrined.

This is also important for Ukraine's domestic policy. In the context of military exhaustion, Ukrainian society needs a long-term perspective. The Association Agreement, although ambitious, has lost its mobilizing function. The start of negotiations is a new social horizon, which means that the EU not only sympathizes with Ukraine but is ready to integrate it at the institutional level.

The financial implications are also significant. The opening of negotiations will activate pre-accession assistance instruments (IPA III) and allow for technical support in all areas, including regional development, infrastructure, science, and education.

Hungary's potential veto must be circumvented and negotiations opened

Despite technical readiness, political risks remain — the main one being Hungary's position. Budapest has already used its veto power on a number of decisions regarding funding for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. The issue of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia is a formal reason behind which other goals are hidden: demonstrating Orbán's independence from Brussels, as well as the desire to use Ukraine's European integration as leverage in internal negotiations with the EU on frozen funds.

At the same time, the history of EU enlargement has seen examples of institutional consensus being achieved through flexible diplomacy. In the case of Ukraine, the following soft approaches are possible:

1. Parallel adoption by the European Council of a decision to open negotiations and a declaration on monitoring minority rights.

2. A separate mission by the OSCE or the Council of Europe to audit Ukraine's implementation of the roadmap.

3. Individual consultations at the level of foreign ministers and prime ministers, with an emphasis on financial guarantees for the Hungarian community in Zakarpattia.

The EU has mechanisms to preserve unity without giving in to blackmail by one member state. The use of these mechanisms in the Ukrainian case will be a litmus test of the Union's strategic resolve. At the same time, the EU is considering tough measures to remove Orbán from strategic decision-making.

Igor Popov, head of United Ukraine Think Tank, expert on political and security issues